^3 



Hill, of the Queen's College. They came from Scotland to the 

 north of Ireland about the 14th century. That they were 

 subject to Danish influence before their arrival here cannot be 

 doubted. Their ancestor was Lord of the Isles of Scotland, and 

 the inhabitants of these very isles were at one. time half Norse, a 

 circumstance that would readily explain a Danish infusion, and this 

 is borne out by a favourite name in use among the family here until 

 comparatively recent times — the name Sorley — you have heard of 

 Mac Sorley boy M'Donnell, or the son of Yellow Sorley ; well, here 

 both the yellow hair and the name Sorley point to a Scandinavian 

 origin. Sorley is a form of the Norse Somerled. In the pedigree 

 of the Mac Donalds, Lords of the Isles, there are many Danish 

 names — e.g., Olaus or Olavus, Reginald or Ronald, Somerled, &c. 

 There, too, were the Mac Cabes, anciently Mac Caba, of the north 

 of Ireland, who were of the M'Leoids of Arran — they, too, it would 

 appear, were of Norse origin, or Norse connection. The late Dr. 

 O'Donovan maintained this, shewing on the authority of Mac Firbis, 

 that the Mac Cabes were descended from old Ivor, as he was called, 

 the ancestor of the Danish kings of Dublin, through the Mac Leoids. 

 One of their ancestors was Magnus, the Norse king, and the names 

 Laughlin and Sorley are found in their pedigree. The Mac 

 Svveeneys of Donegal, too, if we are to trust Dr. O' Donovan's 

 statement that they came over from Scotland to be gallowglasses 

 to the O'Rourkes, O'Reillys, or Mac Mahons, appear to be of 

 Danish origin. The name is decidedly suspicious, being as nearly 

 as possible the common Norse name Sweynson. There is, too, no 

 mention of the Mac Sweeneys in the Annals of the Four Masters 

 before the year 1267. 



Mac Firbis, who was a great transcriber of Irish annals, and who 

 flourished about 1643, tells of three other clans (in Scotland) who 

 were Lochlainns, i.e., Norsemen — the Clanna Orca, the Clanna 

 Cruiner, and the Clanna Thorkadail. The latter is probably to be 

 identified with a common Scotch name, still to be found here 

 among the descendants of the Scotch settlers, under the forms 

 Turtle or Thurkild, as it was a few years ago, and Threlkeld or 

 Threkild. The name Costello, O'Donovan conjectures to be of 



